Process of making and shaping garments.



H. L. NELKE.

PROCESS OF MAKING AND SHAPING GARMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.14,1910.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

2 SHEBTSr-SHEET 1.

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jrwenlor- H. L. NELKE. PROCESS OF MAKING AND SHAPING GARMENTS. APPLICATION FILED DEG.14, 1910.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fi 1a "HERBERT L. NELKE, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

JEROCESS OF MAKING AND SHAPING GARMENTS.

Messrs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. %3, iltlilli.

App'ication filed December 14., 1910. Serial No. 597,253.

:1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT L. NELKE,

a citizen of the United States, residing in from piece-bleached fabrics.

In order to make what is known asa lace bottom or umbrella bottom combination suit, it will be understood that. as the suit is made from a tubular fabric of even diameter. the gussets inserted in the leg portions [will have to be extremely large to give the cloth being shrunken by the process of bleaching. Various methods and machines are employed for this steaming process. After the cloth is steamed. it is allowed to dry and then cut into lengths. The garment is then cut and shaped and gussets inserted to make the garment finish to desired dimensions and the trimming and sewing completed. The next operation is the finishing, many methods being employed. The one most universally followed is first rough folding, then pressing by means of a mangle or press; then folding preparatory to boxing. Here it will be seen that, as the ironing or pressing will often stretch or shrink the garments owing to the variation in the heat or the way the operator handles them, there is often uncertainty as to the sizes of the garments in the boxing or packing of the same. The foregoing process is old in the art. and I do not claim the same as my invention.

The chief obiect of my invention is to produce combination or union'suits known as lace or umbrella bottom suits from a piecebleached fabric. the leg portions of which will be wide and have an unusual flare. said flared leg portions being formed without the insertion of extra large gussets.

Another object is to produce a suit of the above type from a piece-bleached fabric made from yarn of uniform thickness and in which the character of stitch is the same throughout the entire fabric. Also, that the suit willbe narrowed down and shaped at the Waist portion, said shaping being 210- complished without cutting any goods away or forming a seam.

These ob ects I attain in the following "manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1, 1s a view of the flattened tubular fabric before it is bleached; Fig. 2, is a View of the same flattened tubular fabric after it has been bleached; Fig. 3, is a garment cut from the bleached fabric shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, is an elevational view of a primary form which I employ; Fig. 5, is a view of the same form with the garment shown in Fig. 3 stretched thereon; Figs. 6

and 7, are elevaticnal views of two stretching or auxiliary forms which I employ; Fig. 8, shows the auxiliary forms within the leg portion of the garment and attached to the primary frame; Fig. 9, shows the garment after it has been subjected to steaming and drying and the auxiliary forms removed, and Fig. 10, is a view in elevation of the finished garment.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the primary form made in the present instance of non-rustable round wire and shaped at 2, to form leg portions. Transverse reinforcing wires 3, 4 and 5 extend from side to side of the form. The transverse wire 4 has sockets 6 and 7 formed therein for the reception of books 8 and 9 on the auxiliary forms 10 and 11 respectively. The upper portion of the primary form is indented at 12 to conform to the contour of a persons waist. A socket 18 is formed in the extreme upper portion of the primary form by which the latter may be suspended. The

auxiliary forms 10 and 11 have an increasing taper from the bottom to the top. The amount of shrinkage due to bleaching a nut ural cotton knitted fabric of this'nature is substantially one-third. That is to say that substantially the same width as the width of the unbleached fabric shown in Fig. 1. The portion y of the said primary form, and which corresponds to the waist portion of the garment, is less in width than the an tit bleached fabric but of greater width than the bleached fabric shown in Fig. 2. The combined width of the bottoms of the auxiliary forms 10 and 11 is decidedly greater than the combined width of the leg portions 2 of the primary form 1.

My process of making and shaping a garment of the above type, is as follows: The fabric is knitted preferably of unbleached or natural'yarn, which is then bleached and shrunk as shown in Fig. 2. Then the garments are cut from the bleached fabric. The next step is to insert the necessary gussets 1A in the leg portions of each garment and to sew on the desired trimmings. It will be noticed at this stage of the operation that there is no indication of a narrowed waist portion, also that the lace trimming at the bottom of the leg portions has been put on full so that the said leg portion can be widened without injury to the lace. This completes the making of the garment.

, The next step is the shaping. The garment is placed on the primary form as clearly shown in Fig.5. Here it will be noticed thatthe portions of the garment from a to b and from c to d have been restored to their natural widths, in other Words, to the width of the unbleached fabric shown in Fig. 1.

Also, the portion of the garment from Z) to c has also been widened but not to the width of the unbleached fabric. The extent of the widening of the portion from b to 0, however, has been; sufficient to'cause the fabric to cling tightly to indented portions 1. of the primary form. The reason for this latter being that the width 3 of the form 1 is greater than the width of the bleached fabric, as fully explained above. No portion of the garment at this stage of the operation has been widened or stretched beyond the original width of the unbleached fabric. This being the case, the portions a to b and c to cl have the same amount of elasticity and flexibility as the original unbleached fabric; the portion 6 to 0 being even more elastic than the unbleached fabric because it has not been widened to the extent of the said original width. After the garment has been thus placed upon the primary form the auxiliary forms are placed one within each leg of the garment so that the hooks 8 and 9 engage the sockets 6 and 7 in the trans verse member of the primary form. The leg portions of the garment are thus stretched to an abnormal width as shown in Fig. 8. The garment, while on the forms, is then suspended within a box and subjected to live steam; the suspension point being the socket 13 of the primary form. After the garment has been completely saturated with steam it is allowed to remain on'the forms and placed within a drying chamber and dried. After the garment has been properly dried, the auxiliary forms are unhooked from the primary form and are allowed to drop from the leg portions as shown in Fig. 9. Next the entire garment is slipped oil the primary form. The garment thus made and shaped, as illustrated in Fig. 10, is ready for folding and boxing as the fabric will be smooth and retain the shape of the combined forms. Also, the garment will have a shaped waist portion which is more elastic than the original fabric, and hip and bust portions which are of substantially the same elasticity as the original fabric. The leg portions will not be as elastic as the original fabric owing to the fact that they have been stretched beyond the original width of the fabric but will be extremely large; and they will also have the desirable wide flare. I-Ieretofore it has been the practice to insert extremely large gussets in the leg portion of the fabric to produce the wide flare. Thus it will be seen that with my process I am able to produce a garment having extremely wide leg portions without the expense of inserting extra wide gussets.

If it is desired to make a waist portion with a greater indent than is attainable with the form, the waist portion may be cut and seamed, or it can be constructed of a stitch or yarn of a different character, although the shaped waist portion attained by the form indents as shown is suflicient for the ordinary person.

As before stated, a difference in the manner in which the operator put two garments supposedly of the same size through the mangle or press resulted in the garments finishing a different size. In this connection, one of the chief features of my process is that the garments of each given size, when completed. will be uniform. This does away with any differences in width and elasticity which are common to garments made from bleached or dyed yarn and steamed in the roll. In my process after the garments are removed from the forms they need no ironing or pressing as the fabric is smooth and lustrous and the shape is set.

While my invention is particularly adapted to the manufacture of ladies lace bottom or umbrella bottom suits, it will be understood that I may make what is termed a cuff bottom or tight knee without departing from the spirit of my invention. In making a cuff bottom suit, I merely dispense with the use of auxiliary frames 8 and 9. Or my process may be used with garments other than described above. For instance, it can be used in making a wide sleeve in a sleeved garment or for the production of a wide-flare skirt on a petticoat, etc. Also, while I have shown and described the forms as'being constructed of non-rustable wire, I may make them of any other material or of a different construction if desirable.

As the primary and auxiliary forms, de-

scribed and illustrated herein for widening and stretching garments, form the subject matter of my application for United States Patent filed March 15th, 1911, Serial No. 614,648, the same are not claimed in this application. It will therefore be understood that any means may be employed to widen and stretch the several portions of the garments as described in my process without departing from the spirit of my present invention. Further I have stated, in order to more clearly describe my invention, that in a particular class of goods the shrinkage due to bleaching is substantially one-third. It will be understood, however, that other classes of fabrics may shrink more or less than this amount. In all cases the forms are made to bear certain relations both to the unbleached fabric and to the fabric after it has been bleached.

I do not in this application claim the specific construction of the forms which I use in my process as they constitute the matter of a separate application.

1 claim:

1. The process of manufacturing bifurcated garments, said process consisting of making a tubular knitted fabric, shrinking the same; then making the garment from the shrunken tube; then widening the garment above and below the waist line to a limit substantially equal to the original Width of the tube before the same was shrunk; and stretching the bifurcated portion beyond the said original width to form wide flared limb portions; then steaming and drying the garment while thus widened and stretched.

2. The process of manufacturing bifurcated garments, said process consisting of making a tubular knitted fabric; shrinking the same; then making the garment from the shrunken tube including placing gussets in the bifurcated portions; then widening the garment above and below the waist line to a limit substantially equal to the original width of the tube before the same was shrunk; and stretching the bifurcated portion beyond the said original width to form wide-flared non-elastic limb portions; then steaming and drying the garment while thus widened and stretched.

3. The process of manufacturing garments from tubular knit fabric, which process consists in bleaching and thereby shrinking the tubular fabric, then cutting and making the garment from the shrunken fabric tube and without widening said fabric, then stretching the garment to final form and thereby widening the fabric from its shrunken condition, then subjecting the garment while held in its stretched condition to the free action of live steam until said garment is thoroughly saturated, and then drying said garment while in stretched condition by the free access thereto of drying air.

4. The process of manufacturing garments from tubular knit fabric, which process consists in bleaching and shrinking the tubular fabric, then cutting and making the garment from the shrunken fabric tube and without widening said fabric, then stretching the garment to final form and thereby restoring at least a portion of the fabric to substantially its original unshrunken condition, then subjecting the garment while held in its stretched condition to the free action of live steam until said garment is thoroughly saturated, and then drying said garment while in stretched condition by the free access thereto of a drying agent.

5. The process of manufacturing garments from tubular knit fabric, which process consists in bleaching and shrinking the tubular fabric, then cutting and making the garment from the shrunken fabric tube and without widening said fabric, then stretching the fabric of said garment from its shrunken condition to varying widths and thereby giving to the garment its desired final shape, then subjecting the garment while held in its stretched condition to the free action of live steam until said garment is thoroughly saturated, and then drying said garment while in stretched condition by the free access thereto of heated air.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT L. NELKE.

Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS B. Corrns, WM. A. BARR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, "by-addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

